so, we're going to be upgrading the home TV area sometime soon. What we're debating is what DVD player to get.

Right now, which is better? Blue Ray or HD-DVD.

Also, we'd want a player that would upconvert standard DVDs to near HD quality, so we'd also need a recommendation on a player!

Thanks for the help guys!

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Neither. Honestly, in my HIGHLY subjective opinion both are overrated. I'd try to get a player that could play both formats, until there is a standardization. Right now not all movies are being released in ALL formats. It is the Beta Wars all over again.

I like HD-DVD better in terms of image quality. But at the moment, I hear Bluray is outselling HD-DVD (Thanks in much part to Casino Royale). So imho, if you have the money to burn, I would get a player that does both formats. Also, if you already own a Xbox 360, I would get the HD-DVD drive for that. And if you think you might want a PS3 down the road, get the PS3 for its Bluray player.

HD-DVD has better quality right now. Blu-Ray SHOULD match that, and have with some titles. HD-DVD has much better interactivity as well. Unfortunately for HD-DVD this upcoming year is going to see a lot of exclusive big name movies that will be Blu-Ray exclusives. HD-DVD has a few exclusives of it's own, but nothing close to what Blu-Ray has.

With what I've seen so far, I'd like to say HD-DVD was going to win, but it's obvious now, Blu-Ray has won. Who knows how long it will be before Universal gives in and supports Blu-Ray, or if they'll release what they've already released on HD-DVD on Blu-Ray eventually.

HD-DVD's days are numbered as far as I am concerned. The retailers will most likely cut its throat once BR gets enougth of a software sales lead to make stocking HD-DVD a waste of shelf space, which can't be more then 18 months away if current sales trends hold.

In terms of studio support, HD-DVD just has Universal exclusive wheras BR has Fox, Disney and Sony. Warner and Paramount are supporting both for the time being, but I can't seem them putting up with it forever.

Tech wise, BR had some issues with shoddy software encoding early on but that seems to be pretty much sorted now. The interactivity features wen't ready on release and probably wont be guaranteed in all players until the 1.1 standard comes in later in the year, which is holding up titles that would otherwise be ready for release. They both support all the same codecs, but BR has a higher quaility and content celing since the discs have 10gb more capacity per layer.

I'd personally recommend sitting out until next year, but my money is on BR and i'll be buying myself as soon as I can get a decent regionless 1.1 player for around £300.

ok, so best bet with an HD TV would be to get a regular DVD player that upconverts?

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Yeah just do that for now. There are a few that upgrade to 1080p so check for those. Samsung have a few good ones (I have one and love it), phillips my coworker has and loves it. Sony's upconvert I'd have some negative responses on those.

For the HD-DVD Blu-Ray war, HD-DVD might have a better image/picture out right now due to the technology being out longer and having more time to fix any issues with it. But currently Blu-Ray is outselling HD-DVD, I believe 3 to 1. Also blu ray will catch up with quality of images real quickly. I wouldn't waste your money just yet on the dual players, the quality isn't that great and the price is/war near $1200.

I wouldn't worry too much about this as with the old Beta VHS mess, it'll be sorted out sooner or later. As for who I'd choose, HD-DVD. They're almost $10 cheaper per movie than BR. I don't care who's your exclusives. I don't see people shelling out $30 + bucks everytime they want a new movie. he cheaper format will win out IMHO.

I wouldn't worry too much about this as with the old Beta VHS mess, it'll be sorted out sooner or later. As for who I'd choose, HD-DVD. They're almost $10 cheaper per movie than BR. I don't care who's your exclusives. I don't see people shelling out $30 + bucks everytime they want a new movie. he cheaper format will win out IMHO.

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Not true. Disc price ranges are the same between the two and there are studios overpricing on both formats, not to mention that those that are supporting both are selling the same films at the same price. HD-DVD's alledged advantage of having lower disc production costs seems to have disapeared almost instantly at the consumer end of things, I can't imagine that it'll hold for much longer with manufactures since production is ramping up and BR is pulling a lead.

Plus people wont be paying any amount of money for a title if it isn't on the format in the first place and Universal have barely got the catalouge to make up for the lack of BR's 3 main exclusives individually, let alone all of them at once.

If I had to guess, I would say that HD-DVD will win, for the same reason VHS beat Beta: The porn industry accepts that as their standard. Funny as it sounds, the porn industry has enough weight to tip the scales one way or the other, and their acceptance of VHS was a large part of why VHS became standard. Now porn accepts HD-DVD.

Porn did well for VHS because that was the only practical way to get it at home back then, which is far from the case thesedays with DVDs already on the market and the internet providing an endless supply. Software availability, the amount of market penetration the PS3 can deliver and the stocking decisions of the high volume retailers will most likely be the major deciding factors this time round.

Porn will be on Blu-Ray as well as HD-DVD. Blu-Ray has basically already won. It's outselling HD-DVD by a huge margin, and that's only going to get worse as more and more big name exclusives come out for Blu-Ray. The war is over. Blu-Ray won.

Porn will be on Blu-Ray as well as HD-DVD. Blu-Ray has basically already won. It's outselling HD-DVD by a huge margin, and that's only going to get worse as more and more big name exclusives come out for Blu-Ray. The war is over. Blu-Ray won.